If you combined the wonderful tunes of a Scooby-Doo chase, mixed it with a hint of Flock of Seagulls finesse, and added the trendy new millennium sound and you end up with Rooney. A great California band that has opened for the likes of The Donnas, but can also open for a more popular sound like Dave Matthews or even a raw/punkier sound like The Eels.
With the single “Blueside,” Rooney hit the masses with a song for the masses, but it is when you delve deeper into the record that you can really see what Rooney is about. A powerful, yet poppy song is “If It Were Up to Me.” Here, Rooney is able to show a different side of themselves. A great love song, yet not over emotional, Rooney is like that both on record and live.
One can never tell where the band is coming from, which is what makes them special. Live, they are not just a tight band, but they are tight and loose all in the same mode. Loose on not sounding exactly like the record, but tight enough to sound tremendous live.
Somehow, Rooney has combined three decades of sounds and was able to update them to make them fit comfortably in the fourth decade. This is a band that must be seen to be appreciated. Although their debut record, Rooney, is great, the band just shines in stage. Named after the loved and hated principal in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Rooney just doesn’t share the same “mean” side to their music that Rooney showed to Bueller. This is a feel-good band with a feel-good sound and a feel-good show. It is just impossible to leave a Rooney show or not listen to a Rooney song and feel good.
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